What would teachers be doing in these innovative classrooms? Perhaps they would be facilitating communication between their students and those from other countries. Maybe they would be brainstorming ideas for new and exciting projects or challenging their students to work with their local communities to solve real-world problems.

What would students be doing in these classes? Maybe they would be creating indoor gardens or coding games. Perhaps they would be designing and 3-D printing original sculptures. The sky is the limit!

Students in Level 3 Spanish were asked this same question. Students were given a blank classroom template and the task of designing their ideal global classroom on their Ipads. Students utilized both Notability (for its recording ability) as well as Snapchat (for its handy “sticker” feature) to create amazing learning spaces of the future. Students then had to narrate (in both written and oral form) their view of this classroom by utilizing the present tense is Spanish. As the first few assignments started to come in, I was so impressed with their suggestions and genuine interest in sharing their ideas with me, (never mind the excellent Spanish grammar.) I just might have to incorporate some of these great “modern” elements into my classroom sometime soon! (Hot cocoa, anyone?)

Here is a sneak peek but stay tuned for more amazing student work samples to come!

Periodically, we will have a “Star Student” serve as our class guest blogger. This student will have the unique opportunity to tell you a little bit about themselves and to explain some of the exciting things going on in our classroom from a student’s perspective.

Nombre: Kerri F.

Clase: E Block Spanish 3 Honors

How many years have you studied Spanish?: 2

(Hobbies) Pasatiempos: Singing Whitney Houston

(Favorite Food) Comida Favorita: Mashed Potatoes, Mac’n’cheese bites

(Why are you studying a world language) ¿Por qué estudias un idioma mundial?: To have experience if I ever travel

If you know me, you might notice that I can be a bit “particular” and I like things to be “my way” (AKA perfect..all the time). Unfortunately, my “control freak” nature (as some might suggest) is not always conducive to learning and can be a bit overwhelming. This year, I am trying to step out of my comfort zone and surrender more control to my students. This is not easy for me at all (because I feel the need to give people my opinion, even when not solicited, but I digress), but thankfully, my students have already responded in amazing ways. (More details to come…)

Student-Designed Rubrics: This year, I am offering student a few opportunities to create their own project rubrics. To begin, students are given a problem/challenge/scenario and must create their solution/project/response with very limited guidelines. As a class, students then collaborate on a Google Doc to identify and explain the objectives of the project and create measurable indicators for these goals. Then, the class agrees upon the total point value for the project as well as the rubric indicator values.

Student-Designed Benchmarks: Additionally, students choose the due date of the project and identify important “check-in” dates and benchmarks where they can solicit student and instructor feedback on their project prototypes.

Is this going to work? I’m not really sure, but I am extremely encouraged by what I have witnessed thus far. So many students have stepped up and taken on leadership roles in this process. It is not always a “pretty process”, but it doesn’t have to be.

My goal is that students experience a sense of pride and ownership, not just in their final product, but in the learning design process. I want my students all to feel comfortable delegating tasks within their group and sharing responsibility for a common purpose.